


Insecurities

by KestrelShrike



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 14:22:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10992720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KestrelShrike/pseuds/KestrelShrike
Summary: Another request, this one short and sweet. I take requests at kestrelsansjesses.tumblr.comRyder is insecure about her body, but Jaal is willing to lend a hand.





	Insecurities

Six hundred years of stasis and a few months of running around and Wren Ryder still wasn’t pleased with what she saw in the mirror. What had she expected? There were problem areas still, and it was never more clear than after a shower, when she would scuttle back to her room and stand before the mirror, counting flaws like they were stars in the sky. 

Despite an active lifestyle, there was still that softness to her stomach and her thighs she didn’t like, reaching down to grasp them and wrinkling her nose, perceived flaws no matter what directed she faced the mirror. In part, it was because this felt easier to control, something she admitted to herself only reluctantly. Being Pathfinder was nothing like how she had expected; no one seemed to respect her or listen to her as much as they would have if she had been Alec. It was better than it had been, but things were constantly slipping through her fingers. There were people she couldn’t save and people she couldn’t please, nightmares that happened almost every time she closed her eyes. Easier to fixate on the way she looked when she wasn’t in armor, and think about that, than to think about anything else. 

Intent on studying a cluster of freckles high on her upper thigh, lifting the towel to peer at it with a frown, Ryder didn’t notice Jaal entering the room, the sound of her door muted by music she had left on. She did notice, however, as he tapped her on the shoulder, careful not to startle her, though there was a question written into his face, the area where his left eyebrow would be slightly raised. “Darling one, what are you doing?” 

It must have looked more than a little weird for anyone walking in on her, the way Ryder stared at the mirror intensely, turning in micro increments this way and then, but she couldn’t offer any good defense beyond a shrug. “Just… looking. I always thought that one day I’d wake up and be better looking, you know? But I guess even the Pathfinder has cellulite and acne. Er, not that you know what that is, but…” Not that she’d ever been into the magazines marketed towards women, but she’d picked them up as a teenager and they’d left their mark, coupling with societal expectations strong enough to make her feel unsteady on her feet. 

“Come here.” Jaal pulled her close and then, with the faintest hint of a smile, revealed the towel, simply taking her in. There wasn’t anything inherently sexual in his gaze, though there was a faint hunger; he simply stood a small distance apart from her, hands on her shoulders, and appreciated. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the galaxy.” It was cheesy, but coming from Jaal, it felt so genuine, his face so open and earnest. 

Ryder shook her head. “Not really, but thanks anyway. I mean, look at Cora. Or don’t look at Cora. Actually, don’t do that. But everything about her seems so… perfect.” Cora was always meant for this position anyway, and had spent the first couple weeks reminding Ryder of that as often as possible. They had developed a rapport now, but it was faintly uneasy now and then, reminders that nothing was supposed to be like this coming up more often than either would like. It didn’t help that the woman was beautiful, jaw slim where Ryder’s was wide, waist more narrow, shoulders less broad. So many damned flaws. 

“If you’re giving me permission…” Jaal’s voice trailed off and then he laughed at Ryder’s stricken expression, shaking his head. “Cora is a beautiful woman, but she is not you.” It was hard to pick herself apart when he was looking at her like that, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up in a way not unpleasant, body rising to goosebumps in anticipation. 

“It’s not perfect,” was what she settled on, taking her towel back from the bed and winding it around herself again, if only so she wouldn’t be tempted to look. 

“Perfection bores me. Perfection is a kett concept,” Jaal replied, taking the towel from around her again, hands careful but deft, one trailing downward to rest on the small of her back. “You interest me, Ryder, as you are.” Maybe she wouldn’t believe him tomorrow, but for right now, her mind was going other, pleasant places, his hands moving to prove a point. Okay, she would give in.

For now.


End file.
